Palouse Falls

Last weekend we had great weather and took a 2 hour drive to the famous Palouse Falls, which seems to appear out of nowhere. The falls is on the Palouse River, upstream from the confluence with the Snake. If you look it up on Google Earth, it's really amazing to see this 200 feet falls. At first all you see is solid brown but as you zoom in closer and closer it will appear as a big hole in the earth. When we got out of our car I could hear it and just a short walk to the edge gave us this magnificent view. For years it was called Aput Aput which means falling water. In 1951 it was changed to commemorate the Palouse Indians.

We walked around the upper edge so we could get several vantage points. I felt bad for my daughter because she packed her camera and tripod and forgot her memory card at home. This is very frustrating for a photographer. So I had to make up for it. These are a few of the basalt spires that form the canyon. It's amazing to think that this area was once covered in water. Four years ago a young man actually took his kayak over the falls and lived to tell about it. It can easily be found on YouTube.

After the falls, the water calmly flows away

I was especially intrigued by what they call Castle Rock, a fascinating set of spires that sits just left of the falls. This is a view from the distance.

And this is a close up. As we walked around to the other side I could see it from above. Sure wouldn't want to fall on it!

This is a place I've wanted to go to for a long time and it ranks up there with one of the most impressive things I've ever seen. In every photo, we noticed the trails way down below and just couldn't figure out how people got down there. We would like to go back someday, without our dog, so we can try our hand at getting a closer look. Maybe.

The Wizard

These are only pictures of the F/V Wizard taken in Dutch Harbor Alaska. When we got to the boat it was almost 9:00 am but it was still pitch dark out. It was a little hard navigating from one boat to another but finally we got to a door which led us to the wheel house.

It's smaller than it looks on TV and doesn't sit as high as I thought it did either. But it was cool looking at the instruments. And there's that famous cup of noodles. He's really superstitious and has lots of things on the boat to bring him good luck. Cup of Noodles is one of them. Or maybe it's for his chew......

Ichiro Bobblehead





This is what happens when Capt. Monty leaves his chair, the girls take over. 

 

 

The Discovery Channel had already been there and rigged up all the cameras, these are the monitors.

 

 

Just cute little things that people have probably given him.

 

 

Watching the guys work out in the rain while we're warm and dry inside.

 

Freddy!

Cute pictures that Keith's daughter has made for him to get him to quit the 'chew'.

 

 

Now on to the bunks. Got to check out where the boys sleep, ya know.

 

Looks like they got someone to keep them company

This must be the greenhorn room, they've got 4 of them stacked in there

 

Love the clothes dryer

 

This is where the cameramen sleep. The room is pretty large and the 'office' is on the other side of the room.

 

 

The Captain's quarters, right around the corner from the previous room. I'm astounded by the dirty bed, I mean really, get a woman in there to clean this place up. They leave in a few days and the whole place is a pigsty!

 

 

How about a couple of fun pictures of the bathroom. Can you say gross?

 

 

 

Glad they cleaned up the place for us. Check out the handle; it works, I tried it.

A giant grocery list. Check out how many rubbers they need, ha.

 

 

The hall where the get their gear on. It's is only a few feet wide and looks so much bigger on TV. This is also the area that visitors can sign. We grabbed a nice fresh spot on the air duct.

 

 

 

I waited a long time to do this!

 

Now, down to the galley. This is their kitchen, it's bigger than I thought it would be. Later, Lenny was cooking up a big breakfast for the guys.

 

Pretty clean actually

 

Lenny's very quiet and humble

 

The new cook?

 

No explanation needed

 

This was the funniest part of the boat. Getting off, the net was gone so they had to put the net back and rig up a walkway for Barb. She couldn't leap like I could. Jump or die!

 

Keith and Barb

 

Monte on the other boat putting the board down

 

Give her a hand boys

 

Yea, she's free!!

That's it for the boat. I'm glad we got there but am still disappointed that we didn't get to go out in some crashing waves. But still, I've been on a boat that not many can make the same claim of.

The Last Day, Beaches

The last day of a vacation is truly bittersweet and sometimes downright depressing. Time to get back to the hot, dirty, noisy, city. But first a few pics of the last day.

The day started beautiful and looked to be another hot day. We actually had to ask for a fan for our cabin last night. The heat just stuck around. But this morning is was cool and welcoming.



From the front door of our cabin


We left our cabin about 9:30 to visit a couple of beaches. The first one was called Beach 4. Pretty original huh? My, was it beautiful! It was already warm and not too windy. This is the view at the top.

There was a small trail but pretty easy to navigate, even in flip flops. This was the view on the way down.

The tide was pretty high and the surf was pounding. There's nothing better than the sound of waves crashing on the rocks. From here we drove a few more miles to Kalaloch Beach. I haven't been here since I was a kid. It's not as picturesque as Beach 4 but it's pretty, clean, and not very crowded. We walked a ways, then had a seat in the sand and then when we realized we were feeling kind of hot and red, and decided we better head back to the car.



This is going to hurt tomorrow

When we got back to our cabin, we cleaned, loaded our suitcases and got the car packed with what we could. It was early to bed for us to get ready for a long day of travel back home.

As I type this last bit we've already been on the road for 6 hours with about another 5 to go. Ugh. Thanks for stopping by and following my trip with me, I appreciate it.




Log and Mill Tour

Today was the Log and Mill Tour. We had to be in Forks by 8:45; it's about a 15 minute drive. Hubby wanted to leave at 7:30. Huh? I guess he thought there would be tons of traffic. This is the woods man, no traffic here. We arrived at 7:45, a whole hour ahead of schedule. We drove around town awhile and just took our time getting to the Logging Museum.

The van they use holds 14 people, including the driver, and we filled it. It took about 45 minutes to get up to the logging site and we had no idea where we were. It would have been nice if he told us which forest we were in, maybe it was top secret. Half of the drive was on a dirt road. We were bumping along so hard I thought the sides of the van were going to fall off. And it was literally shaking the pee right out of my kidneys. When we got to the site I was desperately looking around for a port-a-potty. I didn't care if it was used by a bunch of manly logger men, I would have used it.

The site wasn't as large as I thought it would be. I guess I watch too much TV.

The required attire of the day

Don't we look like we're having fun? The yarder was not working so there wasn't a whole lot going on. It looked like mostly loading up the trucks.

We then crammed back into the van and headed to the mill. On the way down the hill we stopped briefly to take a picture of Mt. Olympus, which is in the Olympic Mountain Range. Mount Olympus is the largest in the range at almost 8000 feet. When we all piled out of the van, you should have seen the bee line to the bathroom. I guess I'm not the only one that got shook up.

The mill is small with less than 20 employees. Our guide who was a retired logger, walked us through the mill. We had to wear earplugs so I'm afraid I didn't hear anything he was saying.

There really wasn't that much to take pictures of. Plus we were getting tired, hot, and hungry. So that's it for the Mill Tour. I'm glad we went, but probably wouldn't do it again.

Later that evening we took a short drive back to Rialto to catch a sunset. It wasn't as beautiful as some of the pictures I've seen but it was still a nice way to end the day.

What Was The Big Deal?

That's what I'm thinking now about Second Beach. I mean really, I've gone on and on about how hard it was, how high the driftwood was and how it about killed me.  Today,it just wasn't that bad. Sure, the legs got a workout and were a bit wobbly by the time we got to the bottom and I was glad I had my knee brace on.

But the whole experience was very pleasing and it was nice to be back.

It was cool, about 60 degrees at the trail head. We started out about 9:55 a.m. It was mostly quiet with only the sounds of dripping trees, crows, and a very unhappy chipmunk.

A little bunch of fungi growing out of a tree base

One patch of the trail it was very foggy. I just love this picture. So simple, but very dramatic.

Now, lets talk about the steps. My daughter and I decided to count them on the way up. We counted 128, give or take. They are mostly at the bottom though, so pretty concentrated. Some are short but some were very tall. It gives the legs a workout.

Finally we made it to the bottom, this is where our trek ended last time. We laughed as we got there. We couldn't handle this!? What a bunch of wussies we were. What was our excuse other than being overweight and out of shape? There had to be something!

This is the view from the other side of the logs. They weren't that hard to get over with several paths made from others winding through them. It was nice to get over and turn around to where we came.

The weather was cool and cloudy but still pretty nice. Some sun would have been nice but you take what you can get at the beach. It was more like a traditional beach too with a few rocks but mostly sand.

The tide was a little high and so we didn't get a chance to go through the little archway, that would have been nice. But we still got about an hour's worth of beach walking before it was time to head back up. We were a little tired when we got back to the car but not overly so. We felt very accomplished though! After eating lunch in the car we headed back to the cabin. Hubby and the Kid took a nap but not me!!